HS Grad From West Hartford Earns Major Scholarship

National Merit Scholarship Corp.

WEST HARTFORD, CT — A new round of National Merit Scholars was announced earlier this month, with one West Hartford student among many high school seniors nationally earning the honor.

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. (NMSC) recently announced more than 2,900 winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by colleges and universities.

Gavin Sorgen Walker, a senior at Hall High School in West Hartford, was among those selected. Walker will graduate from Hall tonight (June 11).

He plans to major in biochemistry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

Vanderbilt University is an independent, privately supported university founded in 1873 and is
named after Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided funds to establish the university.

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from the finalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution.

These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study
at the institution financing the scholarship.

An additional group of Scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2025 competition to more than 3,600.

College-sponsored Merit Scholarship winners are a part of the distinguished group of more than 6,930 high school seniors who will receive National Merit Scholarships for undergraduate college study worth nearly $26 million.

Earlier this spring, NMSC announced the winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2,500 Scholarships.

For more information on the National Merit Scholarship Corp., click on this link.